By Beth Flynn
UNO and NASA have joined forces to show middle school teachers how to grasp their students’ attention.
NASA developed a new self-study effort that encouraged UNO to take a more active role with middle school teachers
UNO is encouraging teachers to participate in the online course.
This was mainly designed as a model example of online learning as well as an extended workshop for teachers.
The primary focus of the course is to help teachers meet the science education standards by grasping the attention using different NASA activities and building upon different lessons.
The course consists of 15 structured modules in order to help not only the current but also future teachers.
It will allow teachers to practice their skills in developing educational lessons with different NASA Web-based and print materials.
The program consists of three different levels of courses, one for the K-4 teachers, middle school (5-8) teachers and high school (9-12) teachers.
The course, sponsored by the NASA Earth Systems Science Education Alliance, begins the first three weeks of each semester.
Even though this is the first semester, many have already showed an interest in the course. There are currently 10 students enrolled in the course. The class can hold up 24 per semester.
The course also focuses on curriculum development for current and pre-service teachers. Teachers can either receive Educational Credit Units or join the independent parallel studies and earn limited (1-3) credit hours.
Participants discuss Earth System Science and create digital portfolios to record results and reflections of the course.
Several master teachers instruct participants but Bill Schnase leads the group.
UNO is one of the 20 institutions in the country that offer the course. The course also helps UNO and NASA expand their relationship.
For more information about the course, visit http://www.cet.edu/essea/.
